That pluck and panache has guided John Arwood for decades as he’s transformed his Florida-based operation into a major force in the Southeast. One of his latest innovations is becoming the first U.S. hauler to accept bitcoin—a digital currency created in 2009—as payment for related services that he offers nationwide.

“I’m fascinated with being on the latest edge of technology and I’m always trying things that are outside the box,” the president of Arwood Waste and Arwood Waste National says. “I see bitcoin as being a currency of the future.”

Since Arwood added bitcoin to his billing menu last summer, at least one customer per month has taken advantage of it. In a nutshell, bitcoins are stored in a digital wallet that exists either in the cloud or on a user’s computer, according to a CNN Money primer. The wallet, the equivalent of a virtual bank account, allows users to send and receive bitcoins, buy goods or save money.

Arwood envisions bitcoin as one ticket to boosting his customer base. In 1984, he and his father founded Arwood Waste in Jacksonville, Fla., a trash, demolition and recycling business that now serves the Interstate 95 corridor between Brunswick, Ga., and Palm Coast, Fla. Two decades later, he expanded online and on the ground by launching Arwood Waste National, a network allowing customers in all 50 states access to garbage compactors, portable toilets and commercial and residential dumpsters.

It’s that latter audience that has been receptive to filling Arwood’s digital wallet. He’s hoping that coast-to-coast presence combined with the bitcoin bait will lure behemoths such as Google, Apple and General Motors.

“I’m hoping that one day I’ll snag one of them,” Arwood says. “It might sound like I’m greedy but I just want to build a niche with these big companies that need garbage services just like everybody else.”

U.S. borders are not a barrier for the 41-year-old entrepreneur. Arwood is already marketing his services in Canada and Australia, where he figures he will have an edge because bitcoin is more popular and accepted. On the international front, he wants to restrict his business to English-speaking countries because he doesn’t want to have to hire translators at his Florida call center.

Bitcoin transactions allow for a universal payment system, Arwood says. That saves him from the hassle of keeping up with the changing laws and rules centered around international fund exchanges.

David Biderman of the Washington, D.C.-based National Waste & Recycling Association, says he would be surprised to find waste haulers at the vanguard of using bitcoin because the industry is so conservative.

He wasn’t at all shocked to find out that the resourceful Arwood was the lead dog.

“More of our members will start to use bitcoin if it becomes a more widely accepted form of commerce,” says Biderman, general counsel and vice president of government affairs at NWRA. “It only makes sense when residential and commercial customers are comfortable with bitcoin, the same way that credit cards and payment over the Internet became more common and people become more comfortable with it.”

Waste Management spokeswoman Toni Beck says her company is keeping an eye on bitcoin but “not giving it active consideration at this time because it’s a little too early to tell what role it will play in commerce.”

Arwood, the founder of National Garbage Man Day, embraces his iconoclasm.

He attributes his forward thinking to the early 1980s when he accompanied his father to work at a steel tank manufacturing factory and discovered that he could make money collecting and selling scrap metal destined for the garbage bin.

That fueled his fondness for experimentation and for unearthing treasure in trash. He found his marketing groove in the early 1990s when he began designing web sites for his ventures.

“I’m just a little garbage guy living in a country town who has learned how to reach customers worldwide,” Arwood says with a laugh. “Every day there’s a new challenge and a new door that opens that’s unique.”

What a wonderful adventure story for young kids to read about. The writing is geared toward the older grade schools kids. I think 3rd or 4th grade readers could read with help – unless they are advanced. Kids as young as Kindergarten or 1st grade could be read to, but you would have to do so in one sitting. I imagine the little ones might get scared about being stranded – especially if they are emotional. I love the problem solving skills that could be expanded on with questions and discussion with youngsters. Very well written and great comments at the end of each chapter to help discuss the progress and the story. Also, I did get this book as a gift.

Tyler Hartmann had made mistakes, but today was the worst so far. The ship he was on with his mom had been caught in a storm and slammed against some rocks. Soaked by the pouring rain and confused by the darkness, Tyler and the other children had jumped into a lifeboat. It was what they’d been taught by the captain their first day on the ship. But the adults had all gotten on a separate lifeboat. When the two crafts hit the water and were battered by the waves, there had been no way to keep them together. We are on our own. Just Us Kids!

Early life and education

Ivanka Marie Trump was born in Manhattan, New York City, and is the second child of Czech-American model Ivana Marie (née Zelníčková) and to the 45th President of the United States Donald John Trump.[5] Her father has German[6] and Scottish ancestry.[7] The name Ivanka is a diminutive form of Ivana.[8] Trump’s parents divorced in 1991, when she was ten years old.[5] She has two brothers, Donald Jr. and Eric; a half sister, Tiffany; and a half brother, Barron.

Trump attended the Chapin School in Manhattan until she was 15,[9] when she transferred to Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford, Connecticut, where she characterized its “boarding-school life” as like a “prison”, while her “friends in New York were having fun”.[9]

Trump is bilingual, speaking English and French, and has an elementary knowledge of her mother’s native language of Czech.[10][13][14]

Business

Before joining the family business in 2005, Trump briefly worked for Forest City Enterprises.[15] In 2007 she formed a partnership with a diamond vendor, Dynamic Diamond Corp., to create Ivanka Trump Fine Jewelry, a line of diamond and gold jewelry, sold at her first flagship retail store in Manhattan.[16][17] In November 2011, Trump’s retail flagship moved from Madison Avenue to 109 Mercer Street, a larger space in the fashionable Soho district.[18][19] On October 2, 2015, retail website racked.com reported that “Ivanka Trump’s flagship store on Mercer Street appear[s] to be closed” and, noting that the shop had been “stripped clean,” said that it is unclear exactly when the shop stopped doing business.[20] As of October 2016, though, the company’s website lists Trump Tower as its flagship boutique and its only dedicated retail shop, with the brand also available at fine-jewelry stores throughout the US and Canada, as well as in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.[21]

FYI, John Eisenhower, son of 34th president Dwight D. Eisenhower, worked for his father in a much more official capacity, serving as an adviser on national security affairs during his father’s second term.

“A man who has never gone to school may steal a freight car; but if he has a university education, he may steal the whole railroad.”
―― Theodore Roosevelt—

I think that absolute power corrupts absolutely. But for an American politician looking to make some money, even a little power will do quite nicely.

The history of American politics is lined with public officials lining their pockets.

We should create a truly elite list of America’s most crooked politicians, (if we added sex scandals, you’d be here all day). And because practically every public official has at some point battled allegations of corruption!

It’s been said for a long time, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” While there’s a lot of truth in that statement, it’s hard to find a better example than John Arwood and the way he operates his business. If you stop to think about it, every day we come across junk and waste in our lives. Maybe it’s household clutter or a garage that we’ve been meaning to clean out. Maybe it’s old business equipment that we think is outdated so we discard it for the newest, shiniest version. Whatever it is, it usually ends up taking space in a landfill. As the person in charge of hauling tons of this junk away, John Arwood and his company have always sought a better way.

Started At An Early Age

Getting his start at a young age collecting, reusing, and recycling glass bottles, scrap metals and wood while working alongside his father, John Arwood learned the foundations that have led to over 30 years of success in the waste disposal and sanitation industry. In 1978, Arwood was at work with his father, John C. Arwood, at a steel tank manufacturing factory when he realized that much of the scrap metal laying around as trash could be cleaned up and reused. With permission, he started collecting the small pieces in five gallon buckets to take home, clean, and sell back to be used again. Experiencing success through hard work to accomplish a unique vision sparked something in John Arwood that would drive him from that point forward. Since then, he has had over 30 years of success in the waste management and recycling industry–still, he’s never lost sight of the basics.

It’s How They Run Their Business

Businesses often make the same mistakes as individuals when it comes to trashing things too soon. At Arwood Waste, they believe in getting every ounce of life from what they use. “I regularly purchase my competitors equipment (garbage trucks, dumpsters, etc.) and then refurbish them to compete right back in the same markets they were retired from,” says Arwood. They’ve learned that with a little clean up work and repairs, they can apply the principle of “Re-Using” to reduce their costs and increase their profits.

A couple of other ways Arwood Waste works as a company to reduce their waste footprint is by utilizing electronic communications with their customers as much as possible and only printing with black ink. They email order confirmations, receipts and have an online form for just about everything related to the external and internal operations of their business. By contrast, most of their nationwide and local competitors send invoices with 3 to 4 sheets of paper, carbon copies and have multiple colors printed on them. When they do have to mail invoices, Arwood works to re-use the return envelopes they’ve received from others. These efforts keep them from generating unnecessary paper waste both inside and outside the company. From recycling “waste” fluids in their vehicles to re-using lunch table scraps for composting, almost nothing goes to waste at Arwood Waste.

Take The Reduce, Re-Use, Recycle Challenge Yourself

With every junk removal project, demolition job or roll off dumpster load John Arwood and his employees are keeping their eyes open for those hidden treasures. From toys that can be easily cleaned up and donated, to exercise and recreational equipment like bicycles with broken chains or just a busted tire. With just a little love (and if you know what to look for) so many of the items we throw away can live new lives.

Now it’s your turn. Before you throw away that next piece of “junk”, stop and think of how you might be able to repurpose it, donate it or re-use it. It’s good for the environment and might just save you some money!

Snoop Dogg knows what’s going on better than the average American. The actions of Colin Kaepernick and his efforts of forcing politics down the throats of fellow football players are appalling. The Star Spangled Banner is played before nearly every sports event nationwide and with the same respect is played at all military ceremonies. It is a part of our history and means just as much as our flag does. Therefore to disrespect the national anthem, and take a knee as opposed to the appropriate action of standing with your hand placed over your heart is essentially the same as standing on the American flag itself. Football is a team sport, and according to Snoop Dogg, “just like when you’re playing football, you’re supported by a team. When you wanna be a revolutionary, you have to be supported by a team. He didn’t have a team supporting him.” Rather than trying to gain team support, Kaepernick is pressuring his peers to get involved in politics in all the wrong ways. Snoop Dogg said it best when he pointed out that Kaepernick needs “to be back to what he’s doing and if this is what he wants to do, he needs to leave football out of it and just do it full time.” Snoop Dogg after all knows a thing or two about football. He is the founder and primary orchestrator for the very successful Snoop Youth Football League which provides the opportunity for inner-city children to participate in youth football and cheer activities. What kind of an example is Kaepernick setting for our youth like those in Snoop Dogg’s program? The answer is not a very good one, and I agree with Snoop Dogg.

It is truly an honor to be asked by the family occupying the White House to be the primary designer of their wardrobe. Couturiers worldwide would relish the moment they are asked to exclusively produce the clothing for the President of the United States, and more so for the First Lady. Designer Tom Ford https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Ford did such an outstanding job creating the mundane and relatable wardroom for Michelle Obama that I might be contracting him to restyle the uniforms for sanitation workers. What he was able to do for the Obama family certainly would be adaptable for those who work in my industry. It is not too much different to design something functional and flattering for local garbage men than it must have been for some of Michelle Obama’s daily wardrobe. Tom Ford is now a household name thanks to his famous family clients and since he turned down the opportunity to up his design with the new, classy First Lady who is soon to take up residency in the White House I have no doubt that he would be able to take his design concepts from Michelle and tweak a thing or two and make the sanitation uniforms just as fashionable. Looks like some sanitation workers might be getting a name brand fabricator to revamp their look.

Billions of dollars are raised during a presidential campaign. Candidates throw fundraisers across the nation in an effort to squirrel away enough cash to fuel their campaign. Months of planning, accounting, traveling, and debates all lead up to a single day, the culmination of democracy, Election Day. There can be only 1 president and with over a dozen players throwing their hat in the ring for this past election fundraising was paramount in keeping a candidate alive for the marathon of scrutiny. An estimated $5 billion was raised over the course of the election, and each candidate stretched their dollar as much as possible.

What happens to the money collected by the candidates after their pursuit of the White House flops? Although there are countless rules and regulations that dictate what a candidate may or may not do with surplus funds, there seems to always be away around the fine print of the Federal Election Commission. When it comes to the campaign’s discretionary funds it’s almost a use it or lose it scenario. If a candidate does not use all of the money they raised, they can donate it to charities, or in a sneakier route they ultimately decide to waste it like Jill Steinhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jill_Stein is currently doing by demanding a recount of votes in 3 states. As the praised candidate for the Green Party she managed to raise millions of dollars for her campaign and then after being defeated by President Elect Donald Trump she launched yet another fundraising campaign to cover the cost of the recounts she demanded. In less than three days, Stein managed to raise more than $5 million under the pretense that she is not making an effort to help Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, but to “ensure the integrity of our elections.”

Jill Stein received approximately 1% of the popular vote. She had little to no chance of defeating the primary democratic or republican candidates and yet she made an effort. Why? If you have literally no chance of winning why else would you start stockpiling donations, culminating cash, and frivolously spend it if there was not an alternative motive. Stein was exceptional effective in raising campaign funds and is effective in finding ways to keep them. There is no doubt that the Green Party is very good at raising the green. Perhaps other candidates with left over funds are likewise trying to plan for their mansion on the hill as opposed to serving in Capitol Hill.

The definition of “monopoly” is “exclusive control of a commodity or service in a particular market, or a control that makes possible the manipulation of prices.” Current the insurance businesses have a monopoly in America. Like a noose around the America peoples’ necks insurance companies can charge astronomical rates and squeeze whatever dollar amount they want because there are little to no restrictions placed on them. Every state seems to have only a handful of companies to choose from, and should you relocate more than likely your policies cannot follow you. What America needs is a free and open market for insurance company. No boarder restrictions, no laws limiting what agency individuals can use, but an actual competitive market for health care insurance, car insurance, life insurance, and home owners insurance along with countless other monopolized premiums.

If America were to institute a free market enterprise the people would benefit exponentially. We would start to see new companies start to emerge, entrepreneurs would be allowed to enter the marker, and countless jobs would be created. Actual competition would be developed and competitive pricing that makes insurances more affordable would blossom. By creating a free market in this field companies would be forced to no longer have high deductible and premium rates; they would be forced to break the monopoly’s chains from the big name corporations and cross the state lines with more affordable rates to the masses. Potentially down the road this could even benefit all taxpayers. By making health care and other insurances more competitive and ultimately more affordable then the government wouldn’t have to step in and pick up the bill for the American’s who currently can’t afford insurance. It’s almost a no brainer! Break up the monopoly; turn this into an open market and let competitive pricing lower the overall cost and help the nation afford the insurances they need.

Presidential pardons spike during election years. It’s no surprise that when campaigns get heated, some skeletons start to arise from candidates’ closets. When the President of the United States grants a pardon, no hearing is held, no appeal can be made, and there is no denying a direct pardon. A Presidential pardon supersedes all other works previously done in that in order to get a pardon and is instantaneous. Usually there is a very methodical procedure that involves extensive investigations, copious amounts of paperwork followed by a minimum of a five-year waiting period in order to even be considered for a pardon for whatever conviction is accused.

On January 20, 2001 President Bill Clinton pardoned 140 people in the final hours before he turned over the Presidency to George W. Bush. A good majority of the pardons administered by former President Clinton were in individuals whose charges centered on drug deals. Countless offenses were pardoned including the importation of cocaine, distribution of copious amounts of cocaine, distribution of a controlled substance, armed bank robbery, and conspiracy to commit bank fraud against the United States. A pardon to a known drug lord was granted for the offense of conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine and defraud the government. If issuing pardons for these offenses during your last hours of office is not an abuse of power then what is?

There is no law that restricts the power or timeliness of a Presidential pardon, but there should be. By allowing the President to sign off some names and magically make their records disappear their last few months in office is not only an abuse of power but could also be a sneaky way for Presidents to make last minute pardons that could benefit themselves while hurting the American people. This unfair action needs to be put in check. The last year the President is in office, if he wants to pardon an individual for a crime or offense he should follow the same structure of submitting to the Department of Justice that anyone else would have to do and not stash them for later. There is a reason the DOJ has a set standard for consideration of pardons and it is to protect the American people. Presidents that make last minute pardons do not have the people’s protection in mind and perhaps if we turn this into a law we may even see less crime and drug rings making their way into our cities and on our streets.